Bicester South
Cherwell 015 · 5 sub-areas · 9,169 residents
Cherwell 015 is a mid-sized neighbourhood in the Cherwell district of the South East, home to around 9,200 people. A typical two-bedroom lets for about £1,200 a month — roughly in line with the UK median but noticeably below most of the wider South East. Over a third of residents work from home, making it one of the more WFH-heavy pockets in the district.
Bicester South is a green, lower-density part of Cherwell — parks within walking distance of most addresses, a slower weekday rhythm, and a population skewed toward longer-tenure households rather than transient renters.
Overview
What's it like to live in Bicester South?
The area is unusually green for its density — 7 parks and 11 playgrounds sit within five minutes' walk of the centroid; food and drink within walking distance is workable but not dense — around 14 restaurants and 1 pubs in five minutes; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,289 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 5 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Bicester South in Cherwell
Living in Bicester South
Cherwell 015 sits in the Cherwell district with a character that leans residential and relatively settled. Nearly 9,200 people live here, and the area feels more like a community that's dug in than one in constant turnover — over half of households own their home outright or with a mortgage, and detached and semi-detached houses dominate the tenure mix alongside a meaningful private-rented share of around 27%.
Cost-wise, you're in broadly affordable territory for the South East. The median monthly rent of around £1,289 puts this squarely in the middle ground — not cheap by northern-city standards, but significantly below what you'd pay in much of Oxfordshire's more premium postcodes. A 1-bed runs about £963 a month, a 3-bed closer to £1,452. Rents have been rising — up around 4% in the past year — so the window for the current pricing may be narrowing.
The people here skew slightly young-to-middle-aged: just over a quarter of residents are aged 18 to 34, with a further 23% in the 35 to 49 bracket. One-person households make up around 30% of the total, which is a meaningful minority but not dominant. Degree-level qualifications are reasonably common — about 41% of residents hold one, above typical South East commuter-belt figures.
Practically, getting around leans heavily on the car: over 43% of residents drive to work, while only about 4% use public transport. That said, the nearest rail station is under 700 metres away as the crow flies — roughly a 9-minute walk — which gives good access for those who do commute by train. With 100% gigabit broadband coverage and over a third of residents working from home, the infrastructure here suits remote and hybrid workers well. See the streets and sub-areas below for more on specific pockets within the neighbourhood.
What you'll need on day one
Compare Bicester South with
Frequently asked
- Is Cherwell 015 a nice place to live?
- It depends what you're after. It's a settled, owner-occupied-leaning neighbourhood with good broadband, a rail station under 10 minutes' walk, and low deprivation by national standards. The trade-off is a crime rate noticeably above the national average and a limited share of highly-rated schools nearby.
- What is the rent in Cherwell 015?
- A one-bedroom typically costs around £963 a month, a two-bedroom around £1,200, and a three-bedroom closer to £1,450. Rents rose around 4% in the past year. Note these are estimates scaled from council-level data using local sale prices.
- Is Cherwell 015 safe?
- The recorded crime rate is around 204 incidents per 1,000 residents annually — well above the UK average of roughly 80. However, the area ranks in deprivation decile 8, meaning it's among the less deprived 30% of English neighbourhoods, suggesting much of the elevated rate reflects footfall rather than underlying social disadvantage.
- What's the commute from Cherwell 015 to the nearest major city?
- The nearest mainline rail station is about a 9-minute walk away. By public transport, the nearest major employment hub is roughly 66 minutes — that's London for most residents. Birmingham is around 75 minutes by public transport.
- Who lives in Cherwell 015?
- A mix of working-age adults and families — around 27% are aged 18 to 34 and a further 23% are in the 35 to 49 bracket. Just over half of households own their home. About 41% of residents hold a degree-level qualification, which is above the typical district average.
- What schools are near Cherwell 015?
- There are 51 schools within typical catchment distance, but only around 16% are rated Good or Outstanding — significantly below the national share of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 15 km away. Check Ofsted's search tool directly for current ratings and admissions boundaries.
- Is Cherwell 015 good for working from home?
- Yes — 100% of the area has gigabit-speed broadband and zero connections below the minimum standard. Around 34% of residents already work from home, the single largest commuting mode locally, which suggests the neighbourhood has adapted well to hybrid working.